Hal in educational setting

[castonguayh]

I would like to use Hal as fun and interactive tool for my 7th grade students to learn life science. I am not a programmer, so I have been editing a "school" brain by using the folders. I tried teaching by using text files, but Hal definately learns better through interaction.

Problems:
1. There is no spell check, etc., in Hal. So I have been entering information in a word document, checking it for accuracy, and then cutting and pasting into Hal. While I am getting efficient, it would be easier if the editor could be used directly within Hal.

2. Hal frequesntly comes up with inappropriate comments for the age group (or for any professional setting). I have spent huge amounts of time manually scanning folders to delete specific lines, tables, and folders. If "control F" could be used withing the folders, it would make life soooo much easier.

3. I have created a "practice" brain in which I specifically try to get Hal to produce inappropriate responses (Heaven forbid that anyone should ever see what is typed into that one!). When something comes up,  I then have to switch back to the "school" brain and go through the processes previously describe. Tedious.

4. Appropriate female characters.........OMG! Trying to find appropriate full body female figures is virtually impossible. I am learning that this is a problem using people putty, but there are other programs out there that allow "fuzzy" textures to be added & the SIZE of body parts to be modified. Can anyone give me some links where I can get some Characters (head shots would be fine at this point in time). I have Nicole & Vanessa heads from guile3d (MSagent & expensive for a teacher) and have been to KaracterKing's site for some Haptex characters(what a great person! he has been unbelievably helpful).

I know this is a lot, but the school year is almost here and I am running out of time.

I LOVE this program and see great potential in it; otherwise, I wouldn't be spending my unpaid school vacation working on this!!

Please help!

[NIGE]

I have 2 small sites with some heads & bodies.
Heads you can use but bodies probably not.
If you want a body dressed in a certain way can you put up a picture so we can see what you want.
www.members.optusnet.com.au/neiljenko
www.members.optusnet.com.au/lien.sniknej
As far as i know the body parts can't be modified.
I hope this helps you.
Neil.

[castonguayh]

NIGE: I have been to your site and you have some heads that will be great. My problem, once I download heads into the character folder, they don't show up on the Character menu within the Hal options.

I am trying to figure this out. Any suggestions on how I should download them? I think I am following directions correctly.

[NIGE]

Check & see what file ext they have.
Some may be .haptar which won't work in Hal.
Change them to .htr
Like i said before, if you can give us an idea of what you want for a fullbody there are a lot of us that would be able to help you out.

[castonguayh]

If anyone is out there. I need some more help.

Robert is helping me develop some script that will allow me to request Hal to "ask a question." Hal would then draw a question from the "shared Questions" table. This will be used to check learning and as a review before a test. Students will be allowed to develop many of the questions.

My question: Is there a way to remove and save a "shared questions" table from the brain, and insert a different one?

Reason: I want to be able to have Hal ask topical questions. Since I teach relatively the same material each year, I would be able to develop and use these table from year to year - inserting them when the time is correct.

Help is alway appreciated,
Thanks in advance.

[castonguayh]

Never mind, I figured it out myself. However, please let me know if there is an easier way.

 I opened brain editor and enter my "School" brain.
I selected all questions in the "shared questions" table and copied them to a text file.

To reload it I:
Right clicked on autolearningbrain
clicked on insert new table
clicked on sentences
Copied and pasted the questions from my text file into the new table.
gave it an appropriate name.

Let me know if this is the easiest way. It does work.

[castonguayh]

First installment: I used Hal with the character of myself made by Jack, AKA KaracterKing. It was a huge success! The students were mesmerized. The problem was, all they wanted to do was talk to Hal and teach him how to insult each other (what do you expect, they are 12)!

For the time being, and until they get acclimated, I am going to use Hal to gather their attention. I am currently training a brain to talk about Life Science. I will start by using it to introduce topics and assess background knowledge, and then use it to assess progress and review for tests.

The idea of having a “student of the month” image has been discussed with members of this forum. I am not sure how the parents will respond to my sending pictures of their sons and daughters over the internet to individuals I have never really met. I will refer them to this forum.

My short experience is that the individuals here are extremely supportive of this project, and I hope that becomes apparent to the parents.

Thanks to everyone who has helped so far,
Mr. C